Cleveland's best, worst movies over the years

Plain Dealer file photoDirector Billy Wilder, right, talks with two stuntmen in Cleveland Municpal Stadium, where scenes from "The Fortune Cookie" were filmed.

Wednesday, Jan. 19, TV viewers will be treated to the premiere of the second season of "Hot in Cleveland."

Locals look closely at the TV shows and movies that are filmed or set here. In a way, they reflect on us. We are proud of the good ones ("The Deer Hunter") and embarrassed bythe dreck ("Howard the Duck").

But how does the rest of America view the movies filmed in Cleveland?

The Internet Movie Database, while perhaps not the best measuring stick ("Casablanca" is behind "Fight Club" on its users' all-time ratings list) offers a glimpse.

Here are the 10 best and 10 worst major motion pictures -- based on imdb.com user ratings, a 10-point scale -- that were filmed, entirely or partially, in the Cleveland area.

CLEVELAND ROCKS

1. "The Deer Hunter" -- (1978, 8.2 rating.) A classic of American cinema, five Oscars, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, easily one of the top 100 films of all time. Tremont, with St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral front and center, delivers a wonderful supporting role.

2. "A Christmas Story" -- (1983, 8.1 rating.) Cleveland has never looked more picturesque in wintertime. A movie that grows more beloved every December.

5. "Stranger Than Paradise" -- (1984, 7.5 rating.) A minimalist gem from Akron native Jim Jarmusch. A New York hipster's 16-year-old -- and attractive -- cousin from Hungary visits him and his pal before heading to Grandma's house in Cleveland. She stays in the Big Apple long enough to make quite an impression. A year later, they decide to visit her. Roger Ebert calls it "a treasure from one end to the other."

6. "The Fortune Cookie" -- (1966, 7.4 rating.) Billy Wilder's delightful comedy about a crooked lawyer (Walter Matthau) who persuadeshis cameraman brother-in-law (Jack Lemmon) to fake an injury after he is run over by a Cleveland Browns player. Filmed around townand inside the old ClevelandMunicipal Stadium.

7. "One Potato, Two Potato" -- (1964, 7.3 rating.) Three years before "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," this frank, realistic and touching movie tells the story of an interracial marriage between a white divorcee and a black office worker. Filmed almost entirely in Painesville.

8. "Antwone Fisher" -- (2002, 7.2 rating.) The autobiographical story of Fisher, the Cleveland director, author and screenwriter. With the help of a Navy psychiatrist, a troubled sailor deals with his past in Denzel Washington's powerful directorial debut.

9. "The Rainmaker" -- (1997, 6.9 rating.) Based on a book by John Grisham, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon, this film tells the story of a young -- and very green -- lawyer taking on big insurance. The New York Times called it "Coppola's best and sharpest film in years."

10. "Major League" -- (1989, 6.9 rating.) When it was filmed, a winning baseball team in Cleveland was merely a fantasy. Although the ballpark scenes were filmed almost entirely in Milwaukee, the movie remains a salve for our sorry state of sports.

CLEVELAND REEKS

1. "Double Dragon" -- (1994, 3.3 rating.) The on-screen incarnation of a popular martial-arts video game, it's 95 minutes of your life you'll never get back as two brothers battle villains, bad acting and cheesy dialogue to gain some sort of powers. The WashingtonPost: "Clumsily paced" and "amateurishly acted."

2. "Howard the Duck" -- (1986, 4.1 rating.) An anthropomorphic duck finds himself in Cleveland fighting an alien and the government. The guy who green-lighted this project just got a promotion, by the way. He's now answering the phone at Domino's instead of delivering pizzas. (Actually it was produced by George Lucas.)

3. "Major League II" -- (1994, 4.9 rating.) It has everything the first movie did, except humor, a story and a pulse.

4. "View From the Top" -- (2003, 5.0 rating.) All Gwyneth Paltrow wants is to be a stewardess. All moviegoers want is to jump out the window at 30,000 feet. The New YorkTimes: "This satire . . . is so toothless and scatterbrained that it doesn't really deserve to be called a satire."

5. "Light of Day" -- (1987, 5.0 rating.) Brother and sister bandmates Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox share the same microphone, the same blue-collar Cleveland attitude, the same mullet haircut and the same forgettable result: a well-intentioned but second-rate film. Lots of Cleveland here, however.

7. "It Runs in the Family" -- (1994, 5.4 rating.) Bet you didn't know there was a sequel to "A Christmas Story." There's a good reason. This dog, also known as "My Summer Story," features none of the original cast -- and none of the original heart.

8. "One Trick Pony" -- (1980, 5.5 rating.) Paul Simon (yes, that Paul Simon) stars as an almost-forgotten folk singer who's touring the country in a van, opening for punk bands and trying for one last hit. The New York Times: "An odd mixture of inordinately graceful touches and sweeping, clumsy ones."

9. "The Oh in Ohio" -- (2006, 5.8 rating.) The perhaps not-so-schlocky story of a Cleveland ad executive who has never had an orgasm and how that fact tortures her husband. The New York Times: "A feel-good movie about feeling good."

10. "The Escape Artist" -- (1982, 6.2 rating.) The son of a great escape artist -- second only to Houdini -- tries to make a name for himself. Newsweek: "It would take a Houdini to pull a rabbit out of this crushed hat."

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